Africa felt the brutality of Europe throughout its history. Belgium, England, Portugal and the Netherlands all played parts in enslaving areas of the Dark Continent. These Western powers desired to use black people as subjects in their empires. France decided to join in the Scramble for Africa in 1830. Apparently, a group of Paris consuls were insulted during a state visit to Algeria. Instead of demanding an apology, France wanted Negro flesh. They taught the "insolent" blacks a lesson when their army invaded and occupied the capital city of Algiers. Years later, Algeria was declared a French colony. That move precipitated France's imperalism of Africa.

Napoleon I gave the nation an empire to rule over. That dream came crashing down at Waterloo almost thirty years ago. The present ruler, Napoleon III wanted France to rekindle its position as a global superpower. However, it was jepoardized a by rising threat from next door. In neighboring Prussia, a mighty army had militarized. Threats, and later skirmishes began the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. That brief and bloody conflict ended as the French stronghold of Sedan was surrounded and beaten into surrender. That defeat ended Napoleon III's influence in Europe. It also put his country severely behind the mighty Prussia, Great Britain, Austria-Hungary and Russia. French morale sank to new lows. However, a change in philsophy got the country re-energized about being world conquerors again. Expeditions traveled through North Africa and snatched up Tunisia and Morocco. They invaded West Africa and swallowed up Sierra Leone and Dibjouti (French Somalialand). The army overran the Chad Basin, Niger, Togo and Senegal. In 1898, the expedition under Jean-Baptiste Marchand began a march to connect all of France's West Africa colonies and "protectorates". Paris newspapers criticized the campaign for excessive brutality against natives. The march was almost stopped by an incident involving an English force under Lord Kitchener. Tensions got cooled and France continued on raping the continent.

Their dominance wasn't just centered in Africa. French Legionnaires rolled into Turkey and crushed remnants of the Ottoman Empire. They also traveled to Southeast Asia and colonialized the areas of Indochina, Burma, Laos and Malaysia. However, World War II changed everything.

As they ruled from afar, they were conquered from within. Adolf Hitler marched his Nazi juggernaut down Champs Elysses

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